Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 9th March 2018

Image: Tourist office Los Alcázares

Sunny spring weather in the Costa Cálida as Corvera airport already brings signs of new investment to Murcia!

Spring is most definitely on its way in the Costa Cálida this week, and although there have been showers every day the temperatures are set to reach the mid-twenties on Saturday, and with Semana Santa just around the corner and the evenings getting longer there are plenty of reasons for optimism in the Region of Murcia.

One of these concerns the new airport in Corvera: there are some who are sceptical about the positive impact which the opening of the Region of Murcia International Airport will have on the tourist sector and the rest of the regional economy, but this week it seems that it has already generated new investment and 120 jobs a good nine months before the possible opening date! The re-opening of the 5-star hotel at the Hacienda del Álamo golf resort will provide not only employment but also added prestige to the area, and is surely a sign of more good things to come as further details regarding Corvera become clear over the next few months!

Other topics hitting the headlines this week have been a huge demonstration in Madrid demanding long-term solutions to the water shortage which is affecting crop farming in Murcia, and the partial gender equality strikes which took place throughout the country on Thursday to coincide with International Women’s Day: for more on these and other topics, read on!

Agriculture and the environment

50,000 marchers in Madrid demand long-term solutions to the drought in Murcia: the Murcia president and a former national football team manager were among those who joined the marches demanding guarantees of the future water supply for the “market garden of Europe”, in an event which took place just twenty-four hours after the national government announced on Tuesday that permission has been given to extract water from aquifers. It might be imagined that this would appease the crop farmers, but while the availability of 80 cubic hectometres more water considerably eases their plight in the short and medium term they are anxious to see a commitment to long-lasting measures which will ensure that Murcia, Alicante and Almería are able to maintain their current levels of agricultural production.

Molluscs to be enlisted in the project to regenerate the Mar Menor? Clams and mussels help to reduce the presence of nutrients and phytoplankton in seawater, and they have already been used with success at other “bio-remediation” projects, for example in Lysekil in Sweden and New York.

Scientists highlight the need for public awareness in fighting the tiger mosquito: Mazarrón is the only Town Hall in Murcia to have created local bylaws to combat the spread of the insect, which can carry and transmit illnesses including zika, dengue and chikungunya as the tiger mosquito continues to extend its reach.

Airport and tourism news

5-star hotel to re-open in Hacienda del Álamo just 7 kilometres from Corvera airport: 120 jobs will be created by the “Corvera” effect in Fuente Álamo before the airport even opens! This should help to counter the scepticism in some quarters over the assertion that the new airport will bring increased investment to the Region of Murcia, generating both economic activity and employment.

Emergency reinforcements completed at Mula castle: more investment on the way as the 16th century fortress is restored and renovated, following the success of the Town Hall in achieving a majority share of the ownership of the monument.

Frigate captain dies after falling into the Antarctic from Cartagena-based research ship: the body of 53-year-old Javier Montojo Salazar was found 6 hours after he fell from the Hespérides during this year’s annual mission near the South Pole.

Another bastion unearthed as the 18th century city wall of Cartagena is excavated: the Muralla de Carlos III, which was built 250 years ago, ran for almost 5 kilometres around Cartagena.

2-hour strikes across Murcia to support gender equality on International Women’s Day: women earn 13 per cent less than men doing the same job in Spain, and the first ever gender equality strike in this country received almost universal support on Thursday.

Emergency light aircraft landing on the Murcia-San Javier motorway: no-one was injured but traffic was disrupted, understandably, on the RM-19 in the municipality of Torre Pacheco.

Far fewer speeding and other motoring fines in Murcia in 2017: after 10 months of the year the revenue collected from fines was only half the 2016 figure. One fixed speed gun in Jaén detected a total of 55,304 offences between January and October, equating to 182 per day!

Blanca and Ricote seek to settle 300-year feud over municipal boundaries: 6 square kilometres are at stake in the Ricote valley in northern Murcia in a dispute which goes back centuries!

More repair work needed on controversial Murcia footbridge: the visually attractive Pasarela de Vistabella needs re-surfacing yet again, and has been a source of constant headaches for the Town Hall since it was opened in 1999.

Burglars arrested after at least ten robberies in Islas Menores and Los Nietos: holiday homes were targeted in the towns on the shore of the Mar Menor.

Three HGV drivers found to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol in a week in Murcia: two of the men were arrested after spectacular accidents in Jumilla and Lorca, and all were between four and seven times over the legal limit for alcohol.

There have been plenty of statistical surveys and reports relating to the property market this week, with perhaps the most interesting being the data published by the Ministry of Development which show that in the final quarter of 2017 a third of all property sales in Murcia in late 2017 were to non-Spaniards!

Between October and December 2017 there were 4,427 sales completed before notaries in the Costa Cálida, representing a healthy 22.1 per cent increase over the same period the year before, and among these 1,467 involved non-Spanish buyers. It seems that the surge in sales in Murcia is gaining momentum, and there can be little doubt that we foreigners are playing our part!

Almost all of the other data published during the week also bring positive news. The central government have reported that market prices rose by 7.2 per cent across the country last year (although by rather less in Murcia, despite reaching their highest level for five years), and Spain’s notaries reported an 11 per cent rise in property sales during January. However, the notaries did not observed any increase in average prices, reporting a 0.4 per cent year-on-year decrease.

Nonetheless, Tinsa beg to disagree: the leading valuation firm reports a 4.5 per cent yearly increase in prices in February, the most significant upward movements being in the Balearic and Canary Islands, provincial capitals and large cities and along the Mediterranean coast, and at the same time one leading property portal reports an increase of 7.7 per cent in second-hand housing prices!

Elsewhere, a reflection of how the market has developed over the last decade is provided more figures which show that there were fewer mortgage-related evictions in Murcia in 2017 than at any time since 2008: it seems that the real estate sector has finally rid itself of unsustainable purchases made a decade or more ago during the speculative boom!

The separatists in Catalunya have at last stood down and recognized that the exiled former president cannot be re-instated while he remains in Belgium, and this week have hit upon the ideal alternative candidate: a man who has spent the last four and half months in prison after being accused of undermining the national police and the forces of law and order! Should they persist in proposing Jordi Sánchez (image above) as the man for the job, it appears that Catalunya is likely to remain under direct rule from Madrid: exactly the opposite of what the secessionists are trying to achieve!

But although this has once again been among the top stories in Spain this week, there have also been others attracting a lot of attention: the gender equality strikes on Thursday (see above), for example, and encouraging signs that the status and rights of UK nationals living in Spain may remain unchanged after Brexit. It has emerged this week that the PP political party, which is currently in government, is keen for the 240,000 British expats registered in this country to still be allowed to vote in local elections, and although this in itself is a minor detail it appears to be indicative of a desire for things to change as little as possible after the Brexit deadline next March.

Elsewhere, the war between customs officers and smugglers in the Strait of Gibraltar appears to be escalating, and the heavy storms in Andalucía earlier in the week brought about a destructive tornado in Cádiz and “apocalyptic” scenes on a Huelva beach, where tens of thousands of dead starfish were washed ashore: surprisingly, just a few days earlier a similar incident occurred on the beach of Ramsgate in south-eastern England!

For a selection of other Spanish news items, scroll down below…

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